The USAID/Kenya Primary Math and Reading (PRIMR) initiative is a task order under the USAID Education Data for Decision Making (EdData II) project that operates in collaboration with the Kenyan Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (MoEST) and USAID/Kenya, and implemented by RTI International. The program is a randomized controlled trial intervention that included formal (public or government) schools and low-cost private schools (LCPS) located in Nairobi, Kiambu, Nakuru and Kisumu counties. PRIMR and its Kenyan partners created, published, and distributed new teaching and learning materials, based on the existing Kenyan curriculum; designed and led professional development to build the skills of educators and improve student literacy outcomes; and introduced a number of innovative teaching methods. Teachers and head teachers received training to encourage active learning and participation by both girls and boys in the classroom and were further supported with frequent visits and advising by trained instructional coaches. By mutual agreement among the MoEST, USAID, and RTI, approximately 500 formal schools and LCPSs located in Nairobi, Kiambu, Nakuru, and Kisumu counties were to participate in the PRIMR Initiative. To choose the sample of formal schools, the project team first selected all eligible zones from within the selected locations, then randomly assigned a subset of zones to groups that would receive the PRIMR treatment in phases (Cohorts 1, 2, and 3). Across all three cohorts, 262 formal schools were selected. Sampling for LCPSs began by clustering the schools into geographic groups of either 10 or 15 schools from across Nairobi’s divisions. Twenty clusters then were randomly assigned to Cohorts 1, 2, or 3, stratified by geographic region. The number of LCPSs selected was 240. In January 2012, the Cohort 1 schools (125 schools: 66 public, 59 LCPS) began implementing the reading interventions using PRIMR-designed materials and techniques, and the math intervention followed beginning in July 2012. The Cohort 2 schools (185: 65 public, 120 LCPS) began reading and math interventions in January 2013. Cohort 3 schools (101: 51 public, 50 LCPS) served as a control group for most of the program, and then began receiving the full intervention during the final stages of PRIMR (January 2014). In addition, it was decided that the 2014 phase of the intervention would be extended to all 547 remaining schools, rather than only to Cohort 3 as originally planned. As a result, the number of pupils benefitting increased from 12,755 in January 2012 to 56,036 in January 2014. Randomly selected students from all treatment and control schools were assessed via administration of a combined Early Grade Reading Assessment (EGRA), Early Grade Mathematics Assessment (EGMA), and Snapshot of School Management Effectiveness (SSME) at three time points: baseline, midterm, and endline. The PRIMR Initiative’s research design included several “experiments within an experiment.” These consisted of a study of three different combinations of information and communication technology (ICT) as teaching and learning aids in selected schools in Kisumu County; a longitudinal study of about 600 students who were assessed at all three time points, with their reading and numeracy competency levels compared and contrasted across the assessments; and MoEST-driven policy research on various education issues at the national level.

The overall aim of the USAID/SA basic education program is to improve primary grade reading outcomes by building teacher effectiveness and strengthening classroom and school management. This is being accomplished through support to innovative, local interventions that have a demonstrated capacity for scale-up. The main USAID/SA program is the School Capacity and Innovation Program (SCIP), which also leverages significant private sector resources, amplifying the impact of USAID’s investment in the South African education system. SCIP is co-funded by The ELMA Foundation and J.P. Morgan and designed in collaboration with the South African Department of Basic Education. SCIP supports local South African models or interventions that work directly with teachers and school management teams in innovative ways in order to improve their practice as instructional leaders and managers. SCIP is aligned to the USAID Global Education Strategy (2011–2015) which supports interventions to improve learning outcomes with a focus on primary grade reading as a measure of performance. In addition to seeking initiatives that demonstrate innovation and impact, sustainability and scalability are key components of the SCIP program. The Strengthening Teaching of Early Language and Literacy (STELLAR) Program improves the language and literacy skills of Grade R children from disadvantaged communities in South Africa by training and supporting Grade R teachers. Grade R (also called the Reception Year) is the year of schooling before Grade 1.

The Early Grade Reading program in Ghana, implemented under the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Partnership for Education Learning Activity, was evaluated with a quasi-experimental impact evaluation between 2017 and 2019. This data asset contains the three waves of data collected in Ghana during this time period.

Education for Marginalized Children in Kenya (EMACK) is an initiative of the Ministry of Education (MOE) and the Aga Khan Foundation (AKF) and is funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The original EMACK project was initiated in 2006 to increase quality educational opportunities for pre-primary, primary, and lower secondary school children who had been historically marginalized by cultural practices and poverty in Coast Province (CP), North Eastern Province (NEP), and informal settlements of Nairobi. From 2006 to 2012, as a part of the EMACK project, AKF developed and implemented a package of interventions focused on learner engagement and achievement at the classroom level in order to improve learning outcomes and learner transitions from pre-primary to lower secondary school. By 2012, EMACK had reached 767 informal and formal schools in 23 districts across Nairobi, CP, and NEP, benefitting nearly 425,000 people, including 400,000 children (215,426 boys and 183,706 girls), 4,000 teachers, and 11,000 orphans and vulnerable children. In 2012 EMACK refocused its interventions towards building improved readiness of children (before and as they enter primary school) and ensuring schools, especially the lower primary standards (standards 1 through 3) are ready to support children’s learning and development. This refocus, EMACK II, complements the USAID education strategy (April 2011 – 2015) and has been developed by AKF in collaboration with USAID. The overall goal of the re-aligned EMACK II (Oct 2012-Sept 2014) program is to “enhance equitable access and improve learning outcomes in Kiswahili, English and Mathematics for children in primary grades 1, 2 & 3. To achieve the re-aligned EMACK II goal, AKF identified the following four revised strategic objectives (SOs): 1. Improved teaching and learning in Kiswahili, English and mathematics in primary grades1, 2 and 3 in target areas of CP, NEP and the informal settlements of Nairobi directly benefiting over 269,000 children attending 800 schools (formal and informal). 2. Improved effectiveness, efficiency and accountability of school management, and improved parents’ and communities’ participation to support reading outcomes in primary grades1, 2 and 3 in CP, NEP and the informal settlements of Nairobi in 800 schools (formal and informal). 3. Strengthened MOE delivery systems at the cluster and district levels to enhance learning outcomes in Kiswahili, English and mathematics in primary grades1, 2 and 3 at the national level, in 8 counties [4 in CP, 1 in Nairobi, and 3 in NEP], and in 28 districts [14 in CP, 2 in Nairobi, and 12 in NEP]. 4. Increased equitable access to education for 120,000 children in crisis and conflict environments in specific areas of CP, NEP, and the informal settlements of Nairobi. AKF plans to achieve these through improving the quality of teaching and learning in the classroom, establishing a cadre of trained trainers, and education officials as well as increasing the engagement and participation of the parents and communities so they become more accountable, effective and efficient in providing sustained support to the lower primary (grades 1, 2 and 3) education.

Read Philippines or Basa Pilipinas was a four-year early grade reading project that operated from January 2013 to December 2016 and supported the Philippine Department of Education’s national reading program. Basa assisted the implementation of transformative literacy practices in selected divisions of Regions 1 and 7 by providing teacher and student materials, training teachers and school heads, and providing post-training support for Grade 1, 2 and 3 teachers, as well as providing Early Language, Literacy and Numeracy training to kindergarten teachers. The Basa Pilipinas activity used a quasi-experimental cross-sectional design to evaluate the impact of the treatment in improving reading and comprehension skills. Sampling was conducted at three levels: school, classrooms, and student. The school sample was drawn randomly from the activity’s five provinces. Within each school, one grade 2 classroom was selected randomly for baseline and midline with an additional grade 3 classroom selected during the endline. Within each classroom, students were randomly selected to be administered the assessment. A total of 469 students were sample from 40 schools in two provinces at the baseline (comparison), 1,216 students were sampled from 80 schools in five provinces at the midline (intervention 1), and 1,658 students were sampled from 5 provinces at the endline (intervention 2). The disparity in the number of provinces sampled is due to the expansion of the intervention from two provinces to five provinces starting at the midline to provide a more complete picture of the Basa outcomes. To enable the computation of estimates of literacy skills among students in all schools affected by the Basa intervention, design weights were applied to the analyses of EGRA data. Design weights were applied to compensate for differences in provincial sampling and to ensure an appropriate representation of learners in all provinces in the sample.

The PALME project (Partenariat pour l’Amélioration de la Lecture et des Mathématiques à l’Ecole Elémentaire) reflects national priorities for education development and is a central program of PAQUET, the new national Education Sector Plan 2012-2025 (Programme d’ Amélioration de la Qualité, de l’Equité et de la Transparence). PALME seeks to improve the reading and math learning outcomes of primary school students in Senegal. It illustrates two major shifts in the government policy agenda: a) away from access to education to a focus on the quality of learning, and b) the move away from individual donor projects to government leadership and use of government systems for bi-lateral and multi-lateral financing.

The USAID-funded project, Let’s Learn to Read and Write, rendered in Haitian Creole as “An n aprann li ak ekri (Ann ALE), is a four-year early grade reading and writing (EGR/W) project that is based on evidence generated under the two-year USAID applied research activity Tout Timoun Ap Li (ToTAL) or, in English, “All Children Reading.” Ann ALE supports an expanded effort to achieve a more coordinated, effective and sustainable EGR/W program for an estimated 68,600 children in grades 1-4 in 550 schools in three corridors (Cul-de-Sac, St. Marc and Nord) in Haiti. The project will be co-led by the Haiti’s Ministry of Education, the Ministère de l'Éducation Nationale et de la Formation Professionnelle (MENFP). To accomplish its goals in Haiti’s multi-faceted educational system, Ann ALE will vigorously promote a collaborative approach to build successful partnerships able to overcome longstanding barriers to positive change. For this reason, Ann ALE will help to strengthen the MENFP’s capacity to engage a wide range of public and non-public EGR/W stakeholders to improve reading results in Haitian Creole and French. All interventions will be co-designed and co-implemented with the MENFP to ensure their institutionalization and sustainability.

The Early Grade Math Pilot program in Ghana, implemented under the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Partnership for Education Learning Activity, was evaluated with an independent randomized controlled trial between 2017 and 2018. This data asset contains the two waves of data collected in Ghana during this time period.